740th Tank Battalion SSI - Daredevil - US Army X 300 Classic License Plate

The 740th Tank Battalion was activated under the command of Lt. Col. George K. Rubel on March 1st, 1943, at Fort Knox, Kentucky and was quartered in wooden buildings between 1st and 2nd Avenues and between 21st and 24th Streets on the Post. It was redesignated the 740th Tank Battalion (Medium) (Special) on September 7, 1943, and arrived at Camp Bouse, Arizona, on October 15, 1943, where it trained as a Canal Defense Light (CDL) unit with special tanks made for that purpose nicknamed "Gizmos" and as a standard medium tank battalion. Returning to Fort Knox, on April 24, 1944, it received further training and was prepared for overseas shipment. The Battalion departed the U.S. on July 26, 1944. After additional training in the British Isles, it landed at Utah Beach in France, on October 30, 1944. Traveling across France into Belgium, it was ordered to Sprimont, Belgium, on December 18, 1944 (two days after the beginning of the Battle Of The Bulge), to draw vehicles from an abandoned Ordnance Depot. With used up M-4 Sherman tanks and war weary T.D.'s, partially destroyed M-7 SP Artillery vehicles, worn-out Armored ,Cars, and G.I. Trucks, the Battalion set out to meet the enemy. At Stoumont Station, the Battalion destroyed three German Panther tanks in the first half hour of combat. This action stopped the forward movement of Kampfgruppe Peiper and caused it to turn around in retreat. Stoumont, LaGleize, Trois Ponts, Malmedy and points east were fought through. The Siegfried Line was passed through near Udenbreth, Germany after a tough fight, the 740th then saw action at Duren and the Cologne plain. The Battalion was then turned south to assist the 7th Army drive through the Siegfried Line south of Saarbrucken, Germany. First Army again assumed control of the Battalion near Cologne, Germany, where the long push commenced through the Ruhr Pocket. The Battalion ended the war at Schwerin, Germany, near the Baltic Sea with the British 2nd Army. Three battle stars had been awarded for Ardennes-Alsace, The Rhineland, and Central Europe Campaigns. Occupation duty was assumed near Frankfurt/Main, where final dispositions were as follows: Battalion Headquarters, HQ Company, and Service Company at Limburg, a/ d Lahn, A Company at Giessen, B and C Companies, at or near ldstein and D Company, at Rudesheim/ Rhein. The Battalion was deactivated on July 23, 1946. It had proudly served with such famous Divisions as 82nd Airborne, 30th, 8th, 63rd, 86th and with the 78th and 3rd Infantry Divisions on occupation duty. It served under the 1st, 7th, and 9th,

U.S. Armies, the British 2nd Army in combat, and the 3rd and 7th U.S. Armies in occupation duty.